This invention relates to pumps and turbines having shafts and impellers or rotors confined within casings. Specifically, it relates to a vibrational test for determining the structural integrity of the shaft and impeller or rotor within a casing without removal of the shaft and the impeller or rotor from the casing.
Since the invention herein disclosed is applicable to both pumps and turbines the reader will understand that these terms are used interchangeably. Further, the term impellers--commonly used with pumps--will be interchangeably used with the term rotor--commonly associated with turbines. As will be further understood, pumps have prime movers, typically motors, and turbines have loads, typically generators.
The technique herein disclosed was first used on a proprietary basis to test four circulation pumps on a nuclear reactor. Consequently, the major reference throughout the specification will be to pumps and impellers.